Nashville’s Grammy Nominees Gather for Pre-Awards Celebration

Performers accustomed to commanding the stage stood meekly in line Tuesday night (Jan. 18) to take their turn at telling a row of television, radio, print and online reporters what it feels like to be competing for Grammy awards.

The occasion was the annual Grammy nominees party, sponsored by the Recording Academy and held at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville. Apart from performers, the event also attracted a large crowd of support personnel from the music industry, among them sound engineers, producers, managers, label executives, booking agents, publishers and studio musicians.

Standing behind the rope that separated guests from the working press, one could watch the progress of Ricky Skaggs‘ impressive white mane, Chris Young‘s crisp black hat and Dierks Bentley‘s once-again curly locks as they moved almost imperceptibly from one interview session to the next.

Skaggs is in the running for best pop-contemporary gospel album and best traditional folk album, Young for best male country vocal performance and Bentley for best country album and two best country vocal collaborations.

Also attending were such non-country nominees as the pop band Paramore, the gospel duo Jeff & Sherri Easter and members of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Guests who had no red-carpet duties to perform gathered in an adjacent room and mingled around two bars and a fancy buffet spread. There they were further entertained — as they have been in years past — by the exquisite Birdsong jazz trio.